HOW is this for an ultimate Catch 22 situation?

A mate of mine is a tetraplegic and has been in Southport spinal unit for more than 18 months because of an unrelated infection.

He has been in the AA for about 23 years. I have been looking after his specially adapted car, giving it an engine run and charging the battery up now and again.

He is finally due out to come back home to Great Lever.

Sod’s Law now takes a hand. The battery is flat and I need to take it off to charge it so I can bring him home. The bonnet release catch after all this time finally decides it’s had enough and has ceased up. I try my best with a specially adapted wire coat hanger but nothing works. “No worries.” my mate says, “I’ll get the AA.”

He then contacts the AA. “Are you with the vehicle?” the lady says. “No. I am a tetraplegic being treated in Southport Spinal Unit.” “Then we can’t come out to fix it” she replied. “You have to be with the vehicle.” “How can I be with the vehicle? I need the vehicle to come to me, otherwise I can’t get home.”

“Those are the rules. You have to be with the vehicle.”

“My mate is with the vehicle. He is the one who drives it.”

“Sorry, those are the rules. We can’t come out to it.”

I believe it was Douglas Bader who said:, “Rules are for the blind obedience of fools and for the guidance of the wise.”

After asking to be transferred to a higher authority and being told they would ring back which did not happen, a further phone call finally managed to persuade them that this may not be good publicity.

Having had my moan, and to be fair, when we had finally broken through the red tape of bureaucracy, the engineer arrived very promptly and was excellent.

Why can’t life be simple and straightforward?

Roy Caswell Beverley Road Bolton